A Michigan based Dermatopathology Laboratory, Direct Path Services, P.C., has become a fast-growing entity due to the efforts of Dr. Christopher Schwimer and his Dermatologist clients. Direct Path offers an alternative to other labs by keeping all operations local in southern Michigan. This contributes exclusively to the growth of Michigan’s economy as opposed to those of the competing labs’ home bases.

Dr. Schwimer spent six years training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (main campus, Cleveland) in Pathology. He partook in a Dermatopathology fellowship with Dr. Wilma Bergfeld and spent time training with Dr. A. Bernard Ackerman in New York City along with Dirk Elston and other former fellows of Dr. Bergfeld. Dr. Schwimer is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and in Dermatopathology. He also completed a fellowship in Surgical Pathology at the Cleveland Clinic.

After training, Dr. Schwimer was recruited to a staff position as a skin and surgical pathologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. After four years, when he decided to pursue specialized practice exclusive to Dermatopathology, he joined a well-known local Dermatopathology laboratory that is owned and operated by a Florida corporation. Later, in order to pursue his dreams of opening a physician-owned lab, Dr. Schwimer moved to Cleveland where he worked with prior professional acquaintances from the Cleveland Clinic.

At Direct Path Services in Bingham Farms, Michigan, Dr. Schwimer is charged with maintaining state-of-the-art laboratory operations and practicing as an experienced Board Certified Dermatopathologist to provide the best possible diagnostic services to the physician clientele, and, in turn, their patients. Direct Path is the only exclusively Michigan-based and pathologist-owned, full service Dermatopathology laboratory. Direct immunofluorescence is performed in-house for the convenience of our clients. Dr. Schwimer is also a clinical specialties staff at Michigan State University and offers both didactic and at-the-scope training to residents in the field of dermatology.

Dr. Schwimer believes that physician owned and operated laboratories have valuable advantages when compared to the competing national (Wall Street) and international (Japanese-owned) corporate labs -- they provide a more personalized and prompt service with a faster turn-around time and benefit only the local physician community. Our main competition, the “big guys,” who are owned by out-of-state business entities or foreign corporations cannot make this claim.

To learn more about Direct Path or to take a tour of the lab and see how Dr. Schwimer can assist you with the efficiency and success of your medical practice, please call us at 248.220.4425.